The Osceola times., 1887-07-23
AN OLD FAkER'S Sroex
How Professional Rascais swindl, g..
stitious Country Peo,I. ~

IN brief, is this: NV partner Wv
agent. Sometimes he is takino ~ M
scribers to family Bible, and soms ~
times he is selling county riobts :,
manufacture churn or a cheese.rro.'
He enters q populous and we,,,he.
neighborhood. secures board at n.
nearest inn. or with some leading ~"
mer, and while seeming to push Ii,
business he is making cautious and NO.
ticular inquiries. lie finds who il oil
ing, and what the complaint; who ba.
lost money or stock in mysteriom'
way; who is inclined TO supersti,on
and in what particular direction. wh1
has lost relatives and whether tbov
were old or young, good or bad. Bs
picks up and jots down in a memo
randum-book a perfect encyclopedia q,
facts and incidents, and the book !.
sent to me at a point and at tina
agreed upon. | am working another
neighborhood, and some weeks after h.
has passed out of sight and mind sud.
denly appear upon the scene. Ireacb
the farm house of John Smith abou,
dark, and arrange to stay over night
After supper ] ask him about his sister
Helen, who died of consumption ten
years before; about the horse which
was stolen from his barn on the nicbt
of September q, 1879; about the LIGHT.
ming striking his barn in 1880; about
his mother falling out of wagon and
breaking her leg twenty-cne years be-
fore, and so on and so on, proving, To
the unbounded astonishment of the
family, that | am entirely conyersant
with their history. How did know
all these things? am the seventh son
of seventh son, and it all came to me
as entered the gate.
That's the starter, my dearhoy, and
il never fails to catch on. am en-.
treated to tell where that horse wen,
to; whether there isn't treasure buried
on the farm; what member of the fam.
lily is to 90 next; when the hog cholera
will appear next, and so on and so
forth. My terms are from s25 to $500,
according to the gullibility of the vic.
tim and his ability to fork over the
needful. If he simply wants the past
and future, can accommodate him for
about s25. II he wants to know any
thing about buried treasure, | set my
figures at high-water mark. Out of,
say twenty families in neighborhood,
eighteen will want my services and pay
me well for them, and Twill live in
clover for a couple of weeks"
But about the buried treasurer
"Oh, that's all right. In every pop
ulous country, no matter what State il
is in, there are legends of treasure
buried by the Indians or by robbers
My partner fixes all that. He picks up
an old Mexican dollar in some door
yard or barnyard, and asserts that it
must have been a portion of some
treasure buried many years before.
never saw a farmer yet who couldn't
be convinced that he owned a farm
with pot of gold and silver waiting to
be dug up. We bought $500 worth Of
old gold and silver coin in New York
as starter. My partner has two or
three ancient-looking pots and jugs
among his baggage, and he manages to
make burial somewhere in each good
workable neighborhood. It.is close to
some prominent object. and | have no
difficulty in pointing out the place.
When it is profitable to work the treas.
ure racket 20 into trance, and see
three pots or jugs full of money under
ground. One is more accessible than
the Others, but it contains by far the
smallest sum Of money. That can be
found in half an hour; the Others will
require days of careful search and dig
ging. II the farmer comes to my
terms | locate pot containing from
$40 to $50. He finds the pot and the
money is in it. II the one pot is there
why shouldn't the other two be? The
one find excites all his cupidity. and he
is ready to believe any story may tell
him. The treasure racket is worked
only when am about to leave neigh
borhood.n "
And you impose on people in this
mannergn
Sorry to say that we do, but the
people themselves are TO blame for it
Any one of sense ought to know that il
is imposition. have great luck in find.
ing stolen or lost articles If horse
has been stolen, follow him into some
other county. and locate him on given
farm. give the name of thc.thief and
locate him. This is also done just be-
fore leave. for reasons which will be
apparent A very singular incident
occurred TO me in Indiana last summer
was in neghborhood where rich
old lady had lost $l6 900 in bonds and
jewelry. The box had been taken out
of her house during her absence, and
there was absolutely no clue to the
robber. She offered me $500 10 recoy'
er the property. knew | couldn't 40
it, but she hung on and was so urgent
that to get rid of her ! went into q
trance and saw the box in the loft oil
IN old log house which | remembered
seeing on the highway -four or five miles
from her house. | told her that II the
box had been removed from there II
was during a thunderstorm, at when
time could not see Well, take my
head for football if she didn't send
man off on horse that very evenings
| and in sil.s nf an hour he wns hack VIVID